Seniority
by thekatthatbarks
Summary: They're on a mission and Sakura and Kakashi have a fight. They're being ridiculous and Naruot's fed up with it all. Prompt from dimigex on Tumblr.


Now, Naruto had felt fear before. A lot of times in his life. He had fought in a _war_ for kami's sake. But _this_ , this was different. There was something different about the tenseness in the air that made this all seem on a whole other level. And it was because of his two teammates.

He didn't know _exactly_ what had happened. He had been more preoccupied with his own fight to pay attention to what was going on with the others. But he had been hearing about it for the past thirty minutes as they walked down the road in hopes for an inn to stay the night in. Naruto and Sai were usually the ones who were always bickering, never stopping until Sakura told them to shut up with a threat of throwing them off of a cliff. But they were still friends, both of them knew that, knew they weren't being serious and hateful in their insults. But Naruto didn't know about this fight.

Kakashi and Sakura _never_ fought and if they did it was only teasing and they smiled and laughed through the whole thing. They probably had the best relationship on the team. They fought well together, could practically read each other's minds, supported each other in almost every way. It was getting to the point where Naruto wanted to tell them to sleep together already if they already weren't. They were exactly what each other needed and obviously cared about one another. Even though it would've been nice for Sasuke and Sakura to work something out, even Naruto could admit Kakashi was the better man for her.

But now, even though they were still walking beside each other, they were feet apart. When usually, they were walking so close their arms brushed against each other. Sakura had her arms crossed over her chest and wouldn't meet Kakashi's eyes. Kakashi wouldn't look at her either, walking with his hands stuffed in his pockets. Naruto and Sai walked a couple paces behind them in dead silence not daring to say anything that would set either of them off and have them start attacking _them_.

From what Naruto was hearing, whatever they were fighting over was _stupid_ in his opinion. Something about Sakura stepping in to Kakashi's fight, where she wasn't needed and _blah blah_. Naruto partly agreed with Kakashi, because it was _Kakashi_ , he surely hadn't needed any help with the rogue shinobi they had run into. But on the other hand, Sakura hadn't even gotten injured from it, so he didn't see why Kakashi was so upset.

"I don't understand what you're so mad about," Sakura huffed with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I didn't need you to help me. I had it _handled_ ," Kakashi told her in a tense voice.

"If I hadn't been there, you would have a gash down your left arm right now," Sakura argued.

"Not like it would've killed me, Sakura."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Whatever, ungrateful ass."

Kakashi finally looked at her and glared, "Actually, you stepping in could have caused me _more_ harm than a simple cut down my arm. I didn't know you were going to do that. You could've been caught in the cross fire with me or that shinobi hurting you. I could've hurt myself trying to stop an attack that was already in motion because it could've hit you."

"I was paying attention, Kakashi. That wouldn't have happened and it obviously _didn't_."

"Yeah, well don't do it again," Kakashi told her annoyed.

"I'm not going to stand by while one of my teammates gets hurt when I could have stopped it," Sakura shook her head.

Kakashi looked over at her, but instead of anger Naruto saw a sadness, "You're the _medic_ , Sakura. You're not supposed to sacrifice yourself."

But Sakura didn't meet his eyes, so she didn't see what Naruto did, and she replied hotly, "I wasn't _sacrificing_ myself! And I am more than just a simple _medic_. I can do just fine on my own in a fight _and_ back up my team, too."

"Fine, then. If you're not going to listen to reason, then I forbid you from doing that again."

 _Oh shit._ Naruto knew Kakashi crossed a line, when Sakura turned on him in anger, " _Forbid_ me?"

Kakashi nodded, "You heard me. I'm still the captain of this team."

Sakura's eyes looked deadly as she glared at Kakashi and Naruto was happy he wasn't on the receiving end. But Naruto could tell Sakura was more hurt than anything else, not that she was going to admit that. She was way too stubborn and so was Kakashi.

"You're pulling _seniority_ over me?"

Kakashi didn't look at her and kept his eyes on the path ahead of them, "Are you going to disobey a direct order?"

Sakura's jaw dropped and Naruto saw a glimpse of how hurt she was. But then, she set her jaw and bit back, "No, _Hatake-san_."

Sakura's feet paused and she looked back at Sai, "Sai, let me check the bandages on your wrist."

Sai smiled back at her, completely oblivious to what she was doing, "Oh, no, Sakura –"

Naruto hit him in the shoulder and Sai looked at him in question. Naruto stared at him, trying to get it through his skull to just let Sakura do whatever she wanted. When Sai just looked back confused, Naruto whispered, "Just let her. She doesn't want to walk with Kakashi."

Sai nodded, _finally_ understanding and turned back to Sakura, "Yes, please, Sakura."

Sakura waited for them to reach her as Kakashi kept walking onward. She grabbed Sai's arm and started undoing his bandages, which were obviously fine. After she _fixed_ them, she moved on to Naruto and Sai made his escape and caught up with Kakashi.

Sakura tugged on Naruto's shirt and looked at his collarbone, which had been broken earlier. Her fingers ran over it and she tried to give him a smile, "You and your crazy healing abilities."

Naruto grabbed her hand when he realized it was shaking and she bit her lip. He mouthed at her, so Kakashi wouldn't hear, "You okay?"

Sakura nodded and squeezed his hand before letting it go. She walked beside him the rest of the way, all the while staring at Kakashi's back.

They found an inn stay at for the night and it even had a hot springs, much to Naruto's relief. He walked out with just a towel wrapped around his hips ready to relax the day away in the hot water. But he stopped at the edge of the water when he saw someone already sitting there.

"Sakura?" he asked confused and glanced behind him.

"It's unisex. You didn't notice?" Sakura told him in a bored voice with her head leaned back. She peaked an eye open at Naruto, "You can stay if you want. No one else is here."

She closed her eyes again and Naruto stared at her dumbfounded. Usually Sakura would hurl him over a fence if he walked in on her naked, even if she had a towel wrapped around herself. But no, she just _invited him in with her_.

Deciding he really did want to enjoy the hot springs, Naruto walked into the bath and sat as far away from Sakura as possible. He eyed her warily for a moment and asked her, "So, you came in here knowing any random guy could come and join you?"

"Who cares," Sakura replied with a sigh, "Or are you going to tell me I can't take care of myself, too?"

"No…" Naruto answered, not wanting to push her over the edge and have her fight with him. They sat there for a while in silence, when Sakura suddenly asked him, "Do you still think I'm weak, Naruto?"

Naruto looked over at her surprised and she was staring at him expectantly, "I've never thought you were weak, Sakura-chan."

Sakura snorted and raised an eyebrow at him. Naruto sighed and told her, "Sakura, you're incredibly strong and have amazing chakra control. You've changed a lot since we we're genin, we both have. Anyone who could call you weak is an idiot."

She looked at him with a frown, "Then, why does Kakashi –"

"Kakashi doesn't think you're weak, Sakura," Naruto interrupted her, already knowing this was where she was going with this conversation.

Sakura huffed and looked away from him, her finger swirling around in the water, "Yes, he does. He still sees me as that little girl who followed Sasuke around like an idiot and couldn't even defend herself let alone anyone else."

Naruto internally groaned, wishing Kakashi could just tell her why he was _really_ upset earlier. "Sakura, no he doesn't. He was just worried about you."

Sakura glared at him, "Yeah? Well, I don't need him to worry about me. I can take care of myself."

Sakura got up from the water and walked out angrily. Naruto sighed, looking at the water that moved around in angry waves from her absence. _Great, now she's pissed at me, too._

Sakura was digging around in her pack when she heard a knock on her door. Without thinking she yelled, "Come in!"

She looked over her shoulder and saw Kakashi slide the door open. She frowned and turned back to her search, "What is it, Captain?"

She could hear Kakashi's feet pad across the floor towards where she was sitting. And then, there was a brush in front of her face. She took it and looked up at Kakashi. He was avoiding her eyes and scratching the back of his head, "That must have got accidently put with my stuff when we packed up from camp yesterday."

Sakura looked down at the brush, "Not surprising since we usually room together. Well, thanks for bringing it by."

Kakashi stepped away from her and Sakura felt a pain in her chest as she listened to him walk towards her door. She thought he had left, but then she heard him say, "I'm sorry about earlier."

Sakura turned around and asked, "About pulling seniority or telling me I shouldn't have helped you out?"

Kakashi ran his fingers through his hair and told her, "Seniority."

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned back around towards her bag, "Fine. I forgive you."

She heard him sigh, "Sakura, don't be mad at me."

She stood up and walked over to him, "Then, don't tell me I have not right to back you up when you need it."

"Sakura –"

"Would you have gotten mad if Naruto or Sai had stepped in?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow with her hands on her hips.

"No, but –"

Sakura frowned and didn't let him finish, "Then, it's me. It's because you still think I'm a weak little girl who needs your protection. That I'm pathetic and don't know –"

Kakashi grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him when she started to turn away from him, meeting her eyes, "No, I _don't_."

She felt her anger drain away as she looked into his eyes and only felt hurt, "Then, why?"

"Because I love you," he breathed and Sakura stared at him in shock.

His grip on her arm loosened and he continued, "You can't sacrifice yourself for me."

"I wasn't," she argued, feeling her heart rate pick up.

"That's what it feels like when you step in front of me in the middle of a fight. It's not because I don't think you can handle it. I just…don't know what I'd do with myself if you got hurt because of me," Kakashi's other hand came up to hold her face and Sakura leaned into his touch.

She wrapped a hand around his, "Kakashi, we're supposed to support each other. I know _you_ would step in if I was in danger."

Kakashi looked down at her lips, "That's different."

"No, it's not," Sakura replied and leaned towards him, pulling his mask down slowly. He didn't stop her and she closed the distance, only inches from his lips. "And by the way, I love you too, you idiot."

Kakashi chuckled and she met his lips. They moved against hers in the most natural way like they'd been doing it for years. He held her closely and she sighed happily against his lips. She'd been wanting to do this for years, but never thought she'd get a chance to. That he would feel the same way. But it looked like he did, _felt_ like he did and all of the tension from their fight slipped away.

They only broke apart when the door slid open and Kakashi quickly pulled his mask back up. They looked over to see Naruto standing there staring at them. He sighed, "Finally," and walked into the room, grabbing his bag.

He walked back towards the door without looking at them and said, "Kakashi, you can have your room back. Sakura snores too much for me and I'm sure _you_ won't mind."

He closed the door behind him, smiling when he heard Sakura and Kakashi laughing on the other side.


End file.
